The Voice I Was Given.

Dolphins

        It was an accident. His thoughts weren't concentrated on his surroundings but were back with Hypatia. Then, it happened. He swam straight into a pod of dolphins.

Now, dolphins and whales were the two creatures that River refused to hunt. In fact, only pods of Sirens that were in desperate hunger dared to even try against them. They were too dangerous. Dolphins and whales were usually in large groups, and they matched the sirens in speed and intelligence. Whales were too big for River, a lone adult, to hunt and Dolphins would fight back. Always. It didn't matter to them if you were just passing through. He was a threat to them. And he couldn't blame them.

Within seconds, River felt painful jabs wherever his skin was exposed. Much to his misfortune, this pod had babies. And very little ones at that. This meant that they weren't just trying to drive him away. These dolphins were going to kill him. River began to swim as fast as he could, but the dolphins were anticipating this move. That's when he felt them biting him. They pulled his fins, tore at his skin and tore the delicate spines that made up his dorsal fin. Desperate, River forced himself to go limp, not daring to even breathe. The dolphins continued to poke at him until they seemed satisfied that he was dead. 

River waited until he was positive that the dolphin pod was gone. He ached all over and his own blood began to cloud the water. He had to get out of the water to let himself stop bleeding. As quickly as his injured tail would let him, River swam back to the rocks. He was relieved to find that there were no other Sirens there tonight. He would never be able to win a fight in the state he was in. Once he was safely on the rock, he began to check his injuries. Arms and hands? Bruised, but not broken. Head? Sore. Very, very sore, but at least it was still attached. Dorsal fin? Pretty much gone, but that'll regrow. He'd lost it before in a similar situation. Tail? River was positive that something was broken as he hissed from the pain of moving it. His back and belly where the scales didn't cover him were mangled, entire chunks of flesh gone. His blood was already beginning to pool on the rock below him.

He took one look at it, and then passed out.

...

For the first time, River dreamed. And he hated it. He was trapped. There was a net in the water, and it began to twist itself around and around until he couldn't move. It dragged him in the water, yanking him back and forth as he grabbed at the net that was beginning to strangle him. It dug into his skin and filled his mouth.

Then, he was awake. Bright light immediately forced his eyes shut. He was still trapped, but not by a net. River was wrapped in something cool and soft, which felt good on his aching body. Looking around, he saw a huge tank just a few feet away and dozens of smaller tanks lining the walls. Most of the tanks were empty, but there were a few fish. Upon inspection, he saw that there was more soft material wrapped around his torso and his tail was feeling much better. Suddenly, River's stomach growled loudly. After some wiggling, River freed himself from the material that swaddled him and slid across the floor. Reaching into a tank, he snatched up a mackerel an shoved it halfway in his mouth.

"Good to see you awake," he heard Hypatia laugh.

With the fish still wriggling in his mouth, River nodded and then slipped into the large tank. River didn't really like how fish tasted, with their hundreds of tiny bones and squishy flesh, but he was starving from how much energy he had to use from the dolphins attack. As he crunched on the fish, Hypatia gathered up the material that had been wrapped around him. Then River noticed the dark circles under Hypatia's eyes and her slow movements. He wondered how long he had passed out and if she had been awake that whole time.

River saw a whiteboard on a nearby desk. He reached over and grabbed it. Scribbling something, he held it up. Hypatia didn't noticed. So River made a warbling sound through his gills. This made Hypatia turn.

Want help? The sign asked.

Hypatia gave him a tired smile. "Well, my house is mostly tile...so I suppose that's fine."

He finished the mackerel and slid out of his tank again. He was able to slide across this tile with ease, only having to twist his tail like a snake in order to get movement. Much easier than sand or rock. Hypatia had to stare up at him, River being nearly a foot and a half taller than her when he balanced on top of his tail.

"I didn't really think about how much bigger you are than me," she muttered. "Here, take these sheets."

River followed obediently behind Hypatia, wrapping the sheets around his neck. In his hands he held the whiteboard, knowing that he wanted to talk to Hypatia.

"What attacked you?" she finally asked him.

Dolphins, River wrote.

Hypatia seemed surprised. "Really? From your injuries, I assumed sharks."

How long was I passed out?

Hypatia was quiet for a moment. "Long enough for me to fear that you weren't going to make it."

They had entered a very small room with two big, white boxes in it. Hypatia opened the lid to one of the boxes and grabbed the sheets away from River. She poured a dark blue liquid into the box and then twisted a knob. The box began to shudder and shake. River didn't like this box, but Hypatia didn't seem worried by it, so River wasn't either.

At that moment, River's stomach howled loudly. True, he had just eaten a fish, but not a very big fish. And, an adult siren needed about sixteen pounds of protein-rich food each day.

Hypatia raised an eyebrow. "I figured that you would need more than just that mackerel. And here, eating humans is a no-no. You get arrested and stuck in a psych ward for that. Well, my dad came by a few weeks ago and dropped off about six cows worth of meat. Follow me."

There was another room. Why did people need so many rooms? Again, it did seem like Hypatia had a lot of things. Maybe she liked things. Sometimes, River would see a pretty shell or rock and want to have it, but where would he put it? If he had a lot of rooms like Hypatia, he would be able to keep all the pretty things he found.

There was another white box, and it was even bigger. This one opened on pretty much the same way, but it wasn't empty. It was full of more white packages, though they were smaller. Hypatia pulled three out and walked back into her other rooms. Then, she stuck it into another white box. At this point, River was positive that humans were obsessed with white boxes.

After a few minutes, there began to be a good smell in the air. It was better than shark, and even better than human. It was much richer than that. River grew hungrier, but still waited patiently in the way that Hypatia did. When it came out of the white box, Hypatia apparently wasn't done. She shaped the meat into squished circles and placed them in a flat piece of metal.

"Here." She handed him one of the patties, which was brown now.

Cautiously, River took the strange meat from Hypatia, taking a bite out of it. It was so much better, and he could tell that it had everything he needed in it.

Thank you, he wrote. Now, go get some sleep. I can see that you are tired.

Hypatia smiled. "Yessir."

She walked out of the room, leaving River with the dozen or so hamburger patties that she had made. He ate each of them carefully, savoring the flavor. As he did, he thought about Hypatia.

Hypatia had done so much for him, without asking anything in return. She was supposed to hate him. Any other human who had seen a dying siren would've stood by and laughed. But she hadn't. River wished that he could be as good as Hypatia. To him, she was perfect. An angel, even.

He also remembered her smile, and felt as though he would do anything to keep it on her face.